Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence
ee= /E/. In order to be able to read,
children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In
this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing
the spelling with y at the end. They will learn a meaningful representation
(When you see a spider you say eek!), they will spell and read words containing
this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on
the correspondence ee=/E/.

1.Say: In order to become expert readers
we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already
learned to read short vowel words with o, like top, and today we are going to
learn about long E and the
ee signal that is used to make E
say its name, /E/. When I say /E/ I think of when I see a spider I might say
Eek! [show graphic image].

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in
some words. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear o say its name /E/ and my
lips stretch out and make almost an oval shape like this. [Make vocal gesture
for /E/.] I'll show you first: sleep. I heard
ee say its name and I felt my lips
make a stretched out oval ee [make an
oval motion around pursed lips]. There is a long
E in sleep. Now I'm going to see if it's in days. Hmm, I didn't hear
ee say its name and my lips didn't
make that oval e. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, "Eek! I saw a spider!" If
you don't hear /E/ say, "That's not it." Is it in
deer, bleed, peer, keen, knee, feet?
[Have children make a stretched out oval motion with their lips when they feel
/E/ say its name.]

3. Say: Now let's look at the spelling of /E/ that we'll learn today. One way to
spell /E/ is with the letter e and a double
ee to tell me to say E's name. [Write
ee on the board.]What if I want to spell the word week? "I am going to the mall this
week." Week means that it consists of 7 consecutive days, which means that I
will go at some point this week in this sentence. To spell week in letterboxes,
first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out
and count: /w//ee//k//. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /E/ just before the /k/ so
I'm going to put an e in the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside
the last box. The word starts with /w/, that's easy; I need a w. One more after
the /E/, hmm . . ./w//ee//k//, I think I
heard kkk for /k/ so I need an k.

w

ee

k

4. Say: Now I'm going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You'll start
out easy with two boxes for bee. A bee is a kind of insect, "The bee flew around
our heads while we were eating lunch". What should go in the first box? [Respond
to children's answers]. What goes in the second box? I'll check your spelling
while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You'll need three letterboxes
for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box.
Then listen for /E/. Here's the word: sheep, I have a white sheep on my farm;
sheep. [Allow children to spell words.]
Now it's time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the
board: sh – ee – p and see if you've
spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: wheel; I need a wheel to
drive my car; wheel. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front
board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.]
Next word, listen to see if this word has /E/ in it before you spell it: threat;
I got a threat in the mail; threat. Did you need a double
ee? Why not? Right, because we don't
hear e say its name. We spell it with
our short vowel e.[Volunteer spells it
on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /ee/ with a
ea? Now let's try 4 phonemes: street;
the street was not as big as the truck. One more then we're done with spelling,
and this time you need five boxes:
freezer; I put my vegetables in the
freezer. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you've spelled, but first I'll
show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with freezer on the top
and model reading the word.]First I see
there's a silent e on the end; that's my signal that the vowel will say its
name. There's the vowel e. It must say /E/. I'm going to use a cover-up to get
the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend
with the vowel.] /f//r/ = /ee/ + /z/ + /r/= //. Now I'm going to blend that with
/E/ = /frEEz/. Now all I need is the end, /r/ = /frEEzr/.Freezer; that's it. Now it's
your turn, everyone together.[Have
children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word
on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

6. Say: You've done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /E/=ee.
Now we are going to read a book called Sled Dog Team. This story is about a dog
sledding team and in this story the dogs eat lots of meat so that they can win
their dog sledding tournament. Let's pair up and take turns reading Sled Dog
Team to find out if the dog sledding team actually wins the race. [Children pair
up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the
room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads
Sled Dog Team aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

7. Say: That was a fun story. Did the dog sledding team win? Right, they did
win. Why did they win? Right, because they ate meat.Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/ =
ee, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we
have some words missing. Your job is to look at the pictures and then at the
words and decide which are ee words.
Recheck your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate
individual child progress.]